Chapter Text
It was still early in the morning when Naruto arrived at school today. It was still only the start of fall, yet, when he awoke this morning, he felt as if he were burning up. He couldn't understand what was happing to him at first, so he wrote it off as a simple fever. Naruto was not the type to miss a day of school for a stupid cold, besides, what would his parents think if he did? He knew that his father would give him this look that showed how disappointed he must have been. While his mother would look at him with pity.
Naruto hated those looks, it was as if his parents only expected the worst from him.
Almost as if they were disappointed in him, or worse, they were waiting to be disappointed.
Today happened to be Naruto's twelfth birthday, and instead of being excited, he was anxious. He was worried about his fever getting worse, if it does, he would probably have to be sent home. Naruto's parents hardly spent time with him, so neither one of them noticed his fever this morning. However, his trusted butler, and bodyguard, Zabuza, did. Because of his parent's careers, Naruto, as well as his other siblings all got bodyguards assigned to them when they were young. Zabuza became Naruto's bodyguard because when he was born, he couldn't go home until he was about six months old as he wasn't expected to survive.
Naruto guessed that his time spent in the hospital made his connection with his parents somewhat strained. It felt like there was no reason for him to be there other than to take up space. He realized that when he was about seven years old when both of his parents became too busy with work to realize it was his birthday. Thankfully Zabuza was there, and the two of them celebrated Naruto's birthday with the help of Zabuza's adoptive son, Haku. Naruto was always grateful towards Zabuza and Haku since it felt like they were more of his parents than his biological ones.
"So you thought that you could sneak out without me knowing?" A grave voice said from up above, Naruto looked up to see Zabuza standing on a tree branch. The bodyguard shook his head at the boy, "just so you didn't miss a day of school? Seriously kid, I wish I had been as ambitious about my schoolwork when I was still in school." He jumped down from the tree branch, landing silently on the ground below, Naruto was always impressed when he did this. Zabuza folded his arms sternly as he looked down at his charge, "really, it's heroing and all, but what's the deal?"
Naruto sighed, tired from his long walk, he was more than happy for the chance to be outside on his own. However, he still had a fever that hampered his excitement as he was already halfway out of energy at the start of a surely busy school day. "Because..." Naruto paused as he tried to catch his breath, he felt as if he was having a hard time breathing all of a sudden. He slowly moved over to the nearby bench to sit down for a while before he passed out. Once seated, he unbuttoned some of the top buttons for his cardigan to see if that would help.
Zabuza lifted a thin eyebrow at the gasping boy, "well? I'm waiting...or do you want me to rush you over to a hospital right now?" He paused when he saw that Naruto wasn't talking back as usual, "...are you sure you want your friends to see you like this?"
Naruto frowned, "not really...but I still have to go to school. I need to keep on top of my grades, if I let them slip now, then I'll end up with a lower grade going into the new semester. I don't want to fall behind and disappoint them even more than they already are."
Zabuza shook his head, "damn, you are too good to be true, huh, kid? I mean, I feel like I've raised you myself since you were born, but sometimes I still wonder what goes through your mind sometimes." He let his arms fall to the side as he looked upon Naruto's sorry form. The boy looked to be hot to the touch, he was sweating and gasping, yet the boy was still trying his hardest to get to school on time. "Fuck, kid, you're pulling my arm here, ya know that?"
Naruto gave him a weak smile, "uh, sort of, I mean, you've raised me since I could remember. How could I not be a little strong with you watching over me all the time?" His smile brightened to blinding levels.
Zabuza grunted, "fine, I'll bring you to school." He moved forward and picked up the boy like a bag of rice, heaving him over his shoulder as he made his way down to the end of the street. The car that Zabuza had arranged to meet them was ready and waiting for their arrival. The driver got out and opened the door for the bodyguard and his charge before they all took off in the direction of Naruto's school. While they were in the car, Zabuza gave Naruto some cold medicine that would calm his fever. Naruto was given a towel to wipe the sweat from his face before they arrived at the school's gate.
Happy to finally make it to school to see his friends, Naruto quickly grabbed his bag and hopped out of the car. But, before he could step outside, Zabuza grabbed his arm, startling the blond a bit. "Huh? What's the big deal? I can go right, you gave me medicine."
Zabuza shook his head, "that's not it," he started as he let go of Naruto. The blond turned to look at him, "I'm going to be with you today, here, at the school."
"What?!" Naruto said shocked, "but don't you have a lot of bodyguard stuff to do today? I don't need that much protection at school, I'm on the honor roll and I'm a part of that stupid 'Twelve Clan Halls' thing that dad set up. Other than some stupid remarks, I hardly ever get bullied," he tried to reason, but Zabuza was not impressed.
"First of all, I already know all of that because even though you don't see me, I'm usually still watching you." The bodyguard replied, "just because you don't see me, doesn't mean I'm not still close by."
Naruto pouted, "sounds like a stalker to me?" He muttered under his breath, while in his head, he thought, "please don't tell me he watches me in the restroom."
"Don't worry about the restroom, I don't watch you in there," Zabuza replied as he could see the boy's thoughts on his face. Naruto blushed at being found out, "secondly," Zabuza continued, "I'm only going to follow you through your classes in person today because your father ordered it."
That took Naruto by surprise. "dad did?" he was stunned at first, but his hope of his father caring about him quickly melted away. "No way, what's so special about today? Is he giving some kind of speech to my class or something?"
Zabuza shrugged, "dunno, I just know he wants me to stick close by you today. Don't worry, if you want to talk to your friends privately, I can step back a little, okay?"
Naruto thought about how the day would go if Zabuza was standing close to him throughout the day. He knew that some people would probably make fun of him for being a typical rich kid with overprotective parents. Then he remembered how he woke up with a fever this morning and an empty house. His two older brothers, both twenty-five years old, were already grown up and living with their boyfriends somewhere else. Two of his older sisters, nineteen and eighteen, were already in college. While his third older sister, sixteen years old, had moved into her boyfriend's summer home and was currently expecting her first child. His nephew.
This left Naruto, the youngest, home alone with his parents, and all the servants. If it wasn't for Zabuza, Haku, and his friends at school, Naruto was sure he would have gone mad a long time ago. Despite all the dumb remarks, he's sure to get if he's seen with Zabuza, he didn't mind since Zabuza was the only thing his parents gave him to show that they cared at least a little bit for him. That aside, he smiled back to Zabuza, "sure, I guess this gives you a chance to see how well Haku's tutoring is going, huh?"
Zabuza nodded, "I'll be sure to report those results to him myself later then," Naruto nodded and the two of them got out of the car together. Zabuza easily became Naruto's shadow for most of the day, an easy task to do for an ex-ninja assassin, one of the main reasons that he was hired for this position. Naruto met up with his friends, he only had two. One of them was a childhood friend named Shikamaru, the son and heir to one of the twelve great clans. They've known each other for years, since the first day of preschool, the two had been associated together. In Zabuza's opinion, the boy was kind of lazy and very much laid back, but was sharp as nails, as pure as the Nara standard.
The other friend was an exchange student from another country called Suna, a quiet boy with red hair and brilliant green eyes. Silent, respectful, and bright. The boy, Gaara, and his family had moved to Konoha a little over two years ago and quickly became friends with Naruto and Shikamaru. Zabuza was very happy that the blond made some good friends and wasn't like those other kids who tried to show off to make friends. No, Shikamaru and Gaara were good for Naruto, Zabuza couldn't deny that fact.
"Hey, Naru-chan, you brought your guard to school with ya today, huh?" One kid called out from the surrounding kids who had been scattered around in clutters talking to each other before class. Naruto didn't reply the boy acted as if he didn't even hear the remark that was practically shouted across the courtyard. Zabuza glanced around to see that some of the kids who had been minding their own business before were now looking in their direction because of that outburst.
"You kids got something to say?" Zabuza grunted out loud enough to be heard, most kids turned away immediately, while everyone else stayed silent.
Naruto glanced back at him, "you don't have to do that, you know." He said nonchalantly, Zabuza looked down at him for a second before nodding. Naruto turned back to walk toward his first class and Zabuza followed, there was silence between them for a few minutes. It was comfortable for them to walk around silently like this as they had an understanding of each other, like the bond of a father and his son. It was something Naruto cherished very much, and even if he couldn't have it with his father, he didn't mind.
Zabuza was a father to him after all these years. More than his real one anyway.
The two continued until they made it to the main hall. This is where all of the really important classes for all grade levels in the junior level are held. Since he was so bright, he needed to take advanced classes which would be held on the second floor of the main hall's building. During their walk to the second floor, they ran into Shikamaru and Gaara who were walking by the stair to get to their classes. Zabuza noticed as Naruto's face brightened up as if he would explode into fireworks as he came across his friends.
"Shika, Gaara, what's up?" Naruto smiled at them happily as he stepped onto the second floor.
A thin, raven-haired boy turned to the blond with a smile, "hey, Naru, what's up?" He then noticed the man standing behind the blond, "whoa, looks like you brought the muscle today, huh? Was it an order from your dad?"
Naruto sighed, "yeah, sadly enough, but I guess it's fine since Zabuza's pretty cool. It's not like he's going to embarrass me out on someone else's orders."
Zabuza chuckled, "that's right, I don't need someone's permission to embarrass my kid."
Naruto's shoulders slumped a bit, "don't sound so happy about it, man. So not cool."
A red-haired boy with bright green eyes, Gaara, stepped closer to Naruto, "hey, Naru, what's up with your completion? You look paler than usual, don't tell me you came here sick."
"Uh~ Well, it's not like I'm sick or anything," Naruto tried to defend himself as he nervously rubbed the back of his neck, "I mean, it's not even that bad. I don't have any symptoms, and Zabuza already gave me medicine in the car, so I'm already feeling better."
Gaara and Shikamaru shared a look, then chuckled before turning back to Naruto, "yeah, that sounds about right." Shikamaru chuckled, "you totally would come to school even if your legs were suddenly chopped off, I swear you're working way too hard for a kid. Aren't you going to enjoy your childhood a little before it's over?"
Gaara nodded, "yeah, we're already being pressured enough by our parents, but then there are the teachers too. By the time we got finished our entrance exams for junior high, I already felt like I lost ten years of my life already." Of course, the school they were attending from elementary school was one meant for nobles, so there were rarely any scholarships available. The ones who do get them needed to have exceptional grades already, and would need to have even better rates when they entered the school.
Naruto, Shikamaru, and Gaara's parents made sure they all got into the school upon recommendations. The classes and social structure of the school itself were strict, with no bad grades, ever, or else. That also extended to future and past students as well. Naruto let out a heavy sigh, "yeah, I know, those tests were pretty hard back then, and I felt like I just barely passed. That's why I have to make sure that I don't fail, and that includes not missing school, not even for a day."
Shikamaru shook his head, "jeez man, you're way too good, I swear my father would love to trade me out for you."
Gaara chuckled, "well, he's supposed to be good. If he wasn't, then you probably would fall behind in geometry or something, and then your father would lose it."
"Don't remind me," Shikamaru pouted. Just then the bell rang, "oh damn, looks like we're gonna have to save this talk for later. We're gonna meet up at the usual place for lunch, right?"
"Of course, I wouldn't miss it," Naruto smiled.
"See you guys later!" Gaara said as he turned to leave, he needed to hurry to get to class before the second bell rang. Shikamaru did the same, knowing that his first-period teacher sort of had it out for him, especially since he was good friends with his father. Naruto waved goodbye to his friends before going on his way as well.
To be continued...